Good evening everyone, today we are looking at another unique weapon of Black Ops 2. One of my personal favorites and an over all well rounded weapon.
The M8A1 Assault Rifle.
Weapon History
The M8A1 in real life is known as the HK XM8 prototype rifle. The weapon was designed to be the U.S. Military's lightweight assault rifle, the rifle was in development from the late 1990s to the early 2000s although with high hopes the rifle unfortunately was officially canceled on October 31st 2005.
The XM8 was designed to be a selective firing 5.56mm assault rifle, functioning and designed similarly to the HK G36 rifle. The weapon was built almost entirely out of composites with the notable except of a cold hammer forged steel barrel.
The weapon was designed to have an electronic red dot sight that zoomed by 1.5x and would result in less cost and less weight. Sadly to this day the weapon has not been produced and leaves our world, but joins the one we will be going into today.
Weapon Performance
The M8A1 in game is a moderate damage, low recoil, burst fire assault rifle and is unlocked at Level 49. Dealing 35 points of damage up close and out to mid range and 24 at a distance.
The range profile is very strange for an assault rifle, at a range of 6 meters you will loose your 3 shot kill ability and will stay at 4 shots to kill up to 31 meters, simplified though you will need at least 2 bursts to mid range and 3-5 at a distance. The rifle though does have very low recoil so staying on target at a distance will not be an issue.
On top of that the M8A1s' burst delay is very short, unlike the SWAT-556 the M8A1 is capable of bursting as fast as you pull the trigger. Each pull of the trigger will fire 4 rounds per burst at a lightning pace. Your Rate of Fire is 1,250 when burst firing and if Select Fire is equipped your fire rate is capped at 937 RPM if the weapon is switched to fully automatic mode.
Combined with it's almost non existing burst delay and recoil you can fire 4 rounds at each pull of the trigger with no problem. Think of it as a semi-automatic weapon, the more you pull the trigger, the more lead you will dish out to your opponents.
The iron sights of the M8A1 are relatively clean but can be slightly obtrusive at times.
I honestly enjoyed the iron sights and was able to use them quite easy but since the weapon has low recoil and is very accurate, any optic attachment you choose will work on the gun.
Reload speed is decent for the assault rifle category, 2.25 seconds if the magazine still had ammo and 2.8 seconds if the magazine was completely empty. Fast Mags isn't needed but you could get away with it. Although the magazine size has a small advantage of only 2 rounds more than most assault rifles you will be doing a lot of reloading with how quickly you can deplete the magazine.
The classes we will be using is designed for blending all range combat but keeping supplied and ready for your next engagement. Up close, out to a moderate distance and a distance at which only a sniper rifle could reach.
Class 1 Build
For this build you will need the Primary Gunfighter Wildcard and the Perk 2 Greed Wildcard.
Equip the Quickdraw Handle, Extended Clip and Select fire. Being ready at a moments notice to down your opponents with a magazine size able to take out multiple opponents and lessening the need for reloading with superb fully automatic accuracy will grant you the ability to take down multiple opponents in quick succession.
For your perks.
Hardline
Toughness paired with Scavenger
and Dexterity
Will keep you supplied, able to earn those higher kill streaks faster and able to take out opponents in close quarters if caught off guard.
Although Extended Clip does slightly eliminate the need of Scavenger you will still be burning through ammunition as fast as you're killing the enemy team. Unfortunately you will be without secondary back up and no lethal or tactical equipment, but you will still be able to go toe to toe with your opponent.
Class 2 Build
For this class you will need Perk 2 Greed.
Equip the Quickdraw Handle with Select Fire.
For your perks
Lightweight
Toughness and Scavenger
with the last perk being Dexterity again
For your secondary, equip the KAP-40 machine pistol with the Laser Sight, it's rapid fire paired with healthy damage and accuracy will make mowing down up close opponents much easier, unfortunate yet again we will not be taking in any equipment.
Both classes require Toughness for staying on target under-fire, making sure each shot counts.
Same goes for Scavenger, we need to keep supplied so we will not need to pick up an enemy rifle and make sure we keep our own at all times.
The Verdict
Many members of the community have stated that the M8A1 is the best assault rifle in the game. I strongly agree, a burst fire weapon that blends the rapid fire of a burst rifle, accuracy of a semi-automatic and the comfortable use of an assault rifle.
This weapon may quickly become your favorite weapon and it's clear to see why. This was the first gun I got Gold and I had a blast using it for that long.
Do not underestimate it's damage, it's low recoil and accuracy will counter snipers, tackle long ranged opponents and with select fire equipped will be the jack of all trades rifle.
Thank you for reading. I hope you've enjoyed and that you've learned something useful.
My next weapon guide will be on the SCAR-H assault rifle and KSG shotgun.
Farewell for now.
The M8A1 Assault Rifle.
Weapon History
The XM8 was designed to be a selective firing 5.56mm assault rifle, functioning and designed similarly to the HK G36 rifle. The weapon was built almost entirely out of composites with the notable except of a cold hammer forged steel barrel.
The weapon was designed to have an electronic red dot sight that zoomed by 1.5x and would result in less cost and less weight. Sadly to this day the weapon has not been produced and leaves our world, but joins the one we will be going into today.
Weapon Performance
The range profile is very strange for an assault rifle, at a range of 6 meters you will loose your 3 shot kill ability and will stay at 4 shots to kill up to 31 meters, simplified though you will need at least 2 bursts to mid range and 3-5 at a distance. The rifle though does have very low recoil so staying on target at a distance will not be an issue.
On top of that the M8A1s' burst delay is very short, unlike the SWAT-556 the M8A1 is capable of bursting as fast as you pull the trigger. Each pull of the trigger will fire 4 rounds per burst at a lightning pace. Your Rate of Fire is 1,250 when burst firing and if Select Fire is equipped your fire rate is capped at 937 RPM if the weapon is switched to fully automatic mode.
Combined with it's almost non existing burst delay and recoil you can fire 4 rounds at each pull of the trigger with no problem. Think of it as a semi-automatic weapon, the more you pull the trigger, the more lead you will dish out to your opponents.
The iron sights of the M8A1 are relatively clean but can be slightly obtrusive at times.
Reload speed is decent for the assault rifle category, 2.25 seconds if the magazine still had ammo and 2.8 seconds if the magazine was completely empty. Fast Mags isn't needed but you could get away with it. Although the magazine size has a small advantage of only 2 rounds more than most assault rifles you will be doing a lot of reloading with how quickly you can deplete the magazine.
The classes we will be using is designed for blending all range combat but keeping supplied and ready for your next engagement. Up close, out to a moderate distance and a distance at which only a sniper rifle could reach.
Class 1 Build
For this build you will need the Primary Gunfighter Wildcard and the Perk 2 Greed Wildcard.
Equip the Quickdraw Handle, Extended Clip and Select fire. Being ready at a moments notice to down your opponents with a magazine size able to take out multiple opponents and lessening the need for reloading with superb fully automatic accuracy will grant you the ability to take down multiple opponents in quick succession.
For your perks.
Hardline
Toughness paired with Scavenger
and Dexterity
Will keep you supplied, able to earn those higher kill streaks faster and able to take out opponents in close quarters if caught off guard.
Although Extended Clip does slightly eliminate the need of Scavenger you will still be burning through ammunition as fast as you're killing the enemy team. Unfortunately you will be without secondary back up and no lethal or tactical equipment, but you will still be able to go toe to toe with your opponent.
Class 2 Build
For this class you will need Perk 2 Greed.
Equip the Quickdraw Handle with Select Fire.
For your perks
Lightweight
Toughness and Scavenger
with the last perk being Dexterity again
For your secondary, equip the KAP-40 machine pistol with the Laser Sight, it's rapid fire paired with healthy damage and accuracy will make mowing down up close opponents much easier, unfortunate yet again we will not be taking in any equipment.
Both classes require Toughness for staying on target under-fire, making sure each shot counts.
Same goes for Scavenger, we need to keep supplied so we will not need to pick up an enemy rifle and make sure we keep our own at all times.
The Verdict
This weapon may quickly become your favorite weapon and it's clear to see why. This was the first gun I got Gold and I had a blast using it for that long.
Do not underestimate it's damage, it's low recoil and accuracy will counter snipers, tackle long ranged opponents and with select fire equipped will be the jack of all trades rifle.
Thank you for reading. I hope you've enjoyed and that you've learned something useful.
My next weapon guide will be on the SCAR-H assault rifle and KSG shotgun.
Farewell for now.
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